


Turn Your Head And Slowly Start To Breathe

by annemari



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annemari/pseuds/annemari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lindsey wakes Mikey from a nightmare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turn Your Head And Slowly Start To Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Cotton Candy Bingo, for the prompt "nightmares" . Thank you to **la_dissonance** for looking this over for me! Title from "Lullaby (Mountain)" by The Acorn.

It's dark when Lindsey opens her eyes. She groans and turns over, and curls against Gerard, resting her head on his chest. He's sound asleep, sniffling softly. Lindsey closes her eyes and tries to drift off again herself, but it's useless. She's up, and it probably isn't even five am yet.

She sighs and presses a kiss to the bare skin of Gerard's throat, before softly slipping out of bed. She stops by the kitchen to get tea, and drinks it while looking out at their back yard, lit up by the lights from the window. They should probably do something about those big trees that are starting to block out the sunlight from the flowers. It will take ages before Gerard will notice. She makes a note to call someone next week.

Lindsey finishes her cup of tea and heads back upstairs. She turns on the light in her small studio and stares at the diorama she was working on yesterday morning—before Bandit fell over Grandpa and chipped her tooth and Gerard and Mikey freaked out, more than Bee had. Then Gerard had to leave for recording guest vocals and Mikey withdrew back into the guest bedroom he was staying in, and Bandit wanted to _play, Mommy_.

Lindsey grabs her chair and gets to work. The house is quiet around her, calm and comforting. She usually needs there to be sound, the noise of her family, but right now this helps her focus.

She works until she's yawning pretty much constantly, and has to stop because she can't really focus her eyes any more. The diorama is almost finished now, she figures, she just needs to get a fresh look at it tomorrow. She makes herself get up before she falls asleep behind the desk. That always fucks up her neck, and she'd really rather curl up in bed with Gerard.

She checks on Bandit on the way. She's sleeping softly, teddy bear clutched to her chest.

Lindsey's passing the guest bedroom, when she hears a noise. It's barely a whimper, but the house is quiet enough for her to pick up on it. She hesitates, but there it is again, clearly coming from Mikey's room.

She slowly pushes the door open and peers inside. She could leave; maybe she should. The faint light from the hallway doesn't do much to illuminate the room; it looks like Mikey's pushed the covers to the floor and is curled up in the middle of the bed.

Lindsey frowns, and slips into the room. Mikey makes a distressed sound, louder this time, and she walks quickly up to the bed, and turns on the bedside lamp. Mikey's face is pinched, and there's sweat on his brow. Lindsey reaches out and shakes his shoulder. "Mikey?"

Mikey lets out a frightened noise and tries to turn away from her so Lindsey gives him a harder shake. Mikey gasps and opens his eyes, still trying to get away.

"Hey," Lindsey says. "Hey, Mikey, it's okay."

Mikey blinks rapidly, and finally his eyes focus on her. He looks lost. "Lindsey?"

"Just a dream, honey." 

"Right," Mikey says. "A dream." He gasps in a breath and squeezes his eyes shut. Lindsey lets go of his shoulder, and Mikey opens his eyes at that. He's still breathing rapidly, and trembling, but at least he's responsive.

"Yeah," Lindsey says, and sits down on the bed. "You're okay, honey."

Mikey nods and sits up slowly, scoots back to lean against the headboard.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, hesitant.

Mikey shrugs. "There was blood," he says, and frowns. "And—screaming. People screaming. I can't—I don't know."

He wipes at his eyes and forehead. He's still shaking. Lindsey has the sudden urge to hug him. She doesn't, not sure whether he'd appreciate it right now.

"Do you need anything?"

Mikey looks at her, and tilts his head. "Water?"

"Sure," she says. She gets up and heads to the bathroom next to the guest room.

When she gets back, Mikey has his knees up and his arms wrapped around them. He uncurls a little when Lindsey sits down on the bed again and hands him the glass. He drinks the water methodically, and lowers the empty glass. Looking down at it, he says, "Thanks." He's hunched over, and Lindsey reaches for his shoulder.

"Hey," she says, and Mikey looks up, eyes wide. "Come here."

He blinks, and she leans forward, pulling him into a hug. He's tense for a moment, but relaxes almost immediately and rests his head on her shoulder. Lindsey just holds him at first, but when Mikey doesn't pull away she starts rubbing small circles into his back.

It's been almost a month now that he's been here, and this is the third time Lindsey's been there after a nightmare—the first time he woke them up by screaming—and the first time he's let her hug him. And the first time she's felt comfortable enough to do so.

Mikey's eyes are wet when he pulls back, and he avoids Lindsey's gaze. Lindsey sighs and strokes Mikey's hair. She just hopes it helped, some.

"Think you can go back to sleep?" she asks. Mikey nods, not looking up. "You sure?" she asks, cutting off with a yawn.

"Yeah," he says. "I'm okay."

She's about to get up when he grabs her wrist, fast but gentle.

"Could you—stay for a bit?" he asks, still not meeting her eyes. She's suddenly reminded of how he's younger than her.

"Hey," she says, and finally, he looks up. She smiles. "Of course I can."

He stares at her, then shakes his head. "Sorry, no, I'm keeping you awake. You're tired, you should—"

"Mikey," she interrupts him softly. "It's fine. Come on, why don't you lie down?"

He lets go of her wrist and does as he's told. She grabs the blanket and pulls it up over his shoulders. He blinks at her, and Lindsey gives him another smile.

"Sorry," he says again.

"Mikey," she says, and rubs at his arm. "Go to sleep, honey."

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. She stays until his face relaxes and his breathing evens out—it doesn't take long. She eases herself off the bed, turns off the light and leaves quietly.

Climbing into her bed feels fucking amazing. Gerard turns toward her as she settles down, and shuffles closer to her, resting his hand on her hip and pressing his face against her breasts. "You okay?" he mumbles.

"Yeah," she says. "Couldn't sleep. Worked on the new piece for a bit."

Gerard hums and snuggles closer to her.

"Oh, and Mikey had another nightmare." 

She can feel Gerard tense up, just a bit. "He okay now?"

"I think so," Lindsey says. "I got him some water, and he went back to sleep."

"Good," Gerard says, and lets out a deep breath. "That's good."

Lindsey runs a hand through his hair, and Gerard pushes up into it. "He asked me to stay," she says. "When I was leaving. So I did until he fell asleep."

Gerard pulls back to look at her. "Yeah?" he asks. Lindsey nods. "That's great."

"Yeah," Lindsey says. "I think it's getting better."

Gerard lays his head down again and holds her tighter. He sighs and presses a soft kiss to her breast. "What time is it?" he asks.

Lindsey squints at the window—they forgot to close the blinds, and it looks like the sun is starting to come up. "Early," she says. "Go back to sleep."

He mumbles something in response and relaxes in her arms. She closes her eyes and sleeps as well.


End file.
